Wrockstock was more amazing than I can say and there’s a lot to look forward to with the HP Alliance. But before we go there, please please please if you haven’t already, sign the petition at Wanted For War Crimes.

The HPA’s goal was to get 1000 signatures over a period of six weeks. Thanks to the help of Mugglenet and the Wizard Rock community we broke that goal in 12 hours. In 24 hours we broke 2000 signatures (in 24 hours we doubled what the web site had collected in six weeks). So we said, “okay, we’ll make the new goal 5000 signatures by June 1.”

Well guess what? Tomorrow is June 1 and we have 4834 signatures! We only need 166 more signatures to break our goal and remember, these signatures actually mean a lot! The UN Security Council needs to be serious this month about actually making arrests for the war crimes in Darfur. Approximately 400,000 innocent people murdered and over 2.5 million driven from their homes and not one arrest! We know who two of the people behind these crimes are but the UN Security Council hasn’t acted yet. Please, if you haven’t signed this petition yet, please do it TODAY! And if you have, please tell everyone you know to sign!!!!

Let’s make the next twelve hours count!

Andrew Slack
The HP Alliance

I am very excited that Wrockstock will start this weekend. At Wrockstock, I will be announcing the launch of three new HP Alliance campaigns that are going to be pretty freakin’ awesome! Hopefully I’ll have Internet access while there and will be able to let you all know how things are going by live blogging!

Talk to you soon and letting you know after the weekend about these exciting new campaigns!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend,

Andrew

WE WON!

I know it’s been a long time since the HPA has sent any thing about the Voldemedia campaign. Things got stalled in Congress. But thanks to HP Alliance members and our allies in the Stop Big Media Coalition we were able to get the Senate to reverse the FCC’s December ruling to further consolidate the media in the US.

The battle for media reform continues and I’ll have more details on this soon….I’m so tired right now I can hardly type these words! I’ve just spent a lot of time filming the third WaldeMart video. That’s right: there’s going to be a WaldeMart part 3! It probably won’t be out until mid-June. But I’m very excited.

But before I head off to bed I needed to let you all know about this. And to congratulate you. To congratulate the bands who made the Rocking Out Against VoldeMedia comp. And to thank you all…we made a TREMENDOUS step in helping the United States media not turn into the kind of media that we see in HP books five and seven.

There’s still a big fight ahead and more details soon. But for now: thank you to all of you, CONGRATULATIONS (Mazel Tov!), and let’s celebrate!!!!!

A-Slack

Professor Umbridge strikes again, this time in the muggle world. Our friends at Advocates for Youth (check em out) have put out this action alert about a high school principal who is abusing her position of power to spread homophobia and harass the students at her school. Sound familiar? Just as Professor Umbridge created an atmosphere of fear and intolerance at Hogwarts, so too is Principal Daphne Beasley at her Memphis High School. This time it is for real, and we need to join together as a Dumbledore’s Army for the real world to stop it.  Check out this alert and follow the link to an action center where you can easily send emails and stick it to Dolores!

-Will Delphia – HP Alliance

In a Memphis high school, Principal Daphne Beasley made an announcement over the PA system demanding that teachers provide her with the names of all “hetero and homo” student couples.  Principal Beasley then publicly posted the list in her office.

Two boys – Nicholas and Andrew – suddenly found that the whole school new about their relationship.  Worse still, Principal Beasley called Nicholas’ mother to inform her that her son was part of a gay couple. Ms. Beasley also told the mother that she did not like homosexuals and that homosexuality would not be tolerated in her school.

It’s time to take a stand against anti-GLBT harassment in our schools.  

Write to the Memphis City school board to demand that Principal Beasley be reprimanded for her actions and that policies be implemented to protect students from future harassment by school staff.

Click here to take action now!

Principal Beasley was apparently worried about “public displays of affection.”  But for students like Nicholas and Andrew, her all-too-public display of intolerance carried real consequences.  Not only have the boys experienced increased harassment at school by faculty and fellow students, but Nicholas was not selected for a recent community service trip because he might “embarrass” the school by engaging in gay affection. 

The American Civil Liberties Union plans on to file suit on behalf of Nicholas and Andrew charging that the school violated the boys’ Constitutional right to freedom of association.

It’s time for the Memphis City School Board to protect its students – not Principal Beasley’s homophobia. Write to them today!

This incident is an outrage – but please keep in mind that respectful emails are more likely to be effective. If you have a personal story about the struggles of GLBT youth (and you feel comfortable sharing this story), School Board members need to hear from you.

The Memphis City school board’s upcoming decision is about so much more than one principal’s closed-minded views of GLBT students.  It’s about implementing policies that protect the rights and safety of all students – regardless of sexual orientation.

Let’s show them the world is watching.  Together, we can make a difference.

It is a horrific thing whenever we hear about a shooting that happens at a school, killing innocent students. But what about when the killer is the government? The Sudanese government killed seven Sudanese children on Sunday while at school. Thirteen people were killed in total. The children live in the region of Sudan known as Darfur where the killing by the Sudanese government does not stop.

This is Book Seven material. A government attacking it’s own people. Only in this case it’s happening in our world, it’s happening every day, and in the case of the seven school children the international community took 48 hours to even respond.

In the words of the Save Darfur Coalition:

“The attack—and the miserable response—is yet another example of the world’s failure to protect the people of Darfur. The U.N. approved a peacekeeping force for Darfur ten months ago. Less than a third of that force has reached Darfur.

“But we have an opportunity to make sure the world keeps its promise to the people of Darfur when the U.S. assumes the presidency of the U.N. Security Council on June 1.

“Help us meet our goal to send 75,000 messages to President Bush before June 1 urging him to help bring peace and security to the people of Darfur.
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For Mother’s Day, please send this ecard to every mother you know.

One of the most powerful lessons in Harry Potter is that there truly is nothing more powerful than a mother’s love for her child. Voldemort underestimated it and it led to his downfall.
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Hello again, all! My second WWLC video is right here: Sorry for the absence; you can see why it happened in the vid.